A/N: Another chapter for your reading pleasure. Sorry for the delay just been crazy with work and family lately. I hope everyone enjoys this new chapter. Thank you again for all the review, favorites, and follows. It means a lot and helps keep the story going. Hope to hear more from you guys after this chapter. Thank you again to michaelfmx for his beta services. Couldn't do it without his help. Also I don't own Chuck or any of its characters. Enjoy.
The drive back to Castle was silent. Even though the plan had gone exactly as expected, it was bitter sweet. No one knew what would happen next. They had to wait for the trackers to activate to give them a trail to follow, and they had no idea where Chuck was. Their time in Burbank had made Casey and Sarah soft. Casey knew they were no longer the same empty, ruthless weapons they were in the past. Chuck had given them family, friends, and a place to call home. Casey thought back to the days before Burbank and wondered if they were better. He knew they were easier, but better he wasn't so sure about. It came down to the argument of what do you fear more: the man with nothing to lose, or the man with everything to lose? If you would have asked Casey before Burbank, he would have definitely sided with the nothing to lose crowd. Now, he had everything to lose, and it was all thanks to Chuck. The Bartowski's, Grimes, Caption Awesome, Gertrude, and especially Alex, were all part of his family now. He had tried to go back to the ruthless days, but that hadn't worked out so well. I guess you could say now that he sided with the everything to lose crowd. As he thought about everyone he had grown to care about, he couldn't think of anything he wouldn't do to keep them safe, he would give his life for every single one of them. Yes, they weren't your traditional family, but they were a family nonetheless.
"Casey, we're here," Gertrude said.
"Ok, let's get inside and regroup," Casey quickly replied.
Once inside Castle, the team busied themselves with mundane work, waiting for the trackers to start relaying information. Casey and Gertrude were in the armory cataloging all the items from the mission and returning them to storage. Sarah was pacing like a madwoman, and Morgan just sat at a workstation staring at the screen. Just then they heard the voice of the man that had been haunting them since all this began. "Hello Team Bartowski. I hope all is well. Sorry for the little test today, but we had to be sure you guys were up for the task," Smith said.
"Where is Chuck?" Sarah yelled back.
"Don't worry about your husband Sarah, he is just sleeping in the back. Here I will show you." Smith's face disappeared from the screen and the camera showed Chuck sleeping. "You see, safe and sound," Smith replied as his face again filled the screen.
"If you so much as touch him, I will hunt you down and kill everyone in your organization starting with you." Sarah's stare was ice cold and fixated directly at Smith.
"I wouldn't think of it. I have heard all the stories about…Thailand wasn't it? I have no intentions of winding up like that Belgian gentleman. The reason you are seeing me now is that I don't want you to relax. You see, Team Bartowski is still a major part of our operation. I just needed Chuck here for a little while. Don't worry, you will have him back for the next part of your mission. Now, I want you guys to rest up because you are going to need it." Smith's face disappeared and the monitor went dark.
Sarah's blood was starting to boil. Smith was toying with them. "I'm going to hit the showers. Tell me when we have some Intel to work with." Sarah walked past the group. They knew better then to get in her way right now. It was probably best if they let her relax and get her wits about her.
As Sarah stood in the shower, she couldn't help but think of Chuck. She knew they had to do this for their future, but that didn't make it any easier. The warm water wasn't helping to distract her like she had hoped. All she could do was think about how Chuck was out there, alone with Smith. Her emotions were starting to get the best of her, so she took a deep breath to calm herself. She knew getting angry or upset wasn't going to help Chuck, and right now that's what mattered most. Sarah turned off the water and prepared herself to do whatever was necessary to get her husband back.
Chuck was slowly regaining consciousness. He had no idea where he was or how long he had been out. He was a little surprised to wake up in a bed, untied. Well this is a pleasant surprise, he thought. Chuck slowly sat up in bed only to be greeted by a massive headache. Chuck closed his eyes and touched his head.
"Oh, don't worry, that headache will go way shortly. Just a little side effect of the drugs we gave you. There is some medicine and water next to the bed if you like. Don't worry it is just Tylenol. I left it in the box unopened so you don't have to take my word for it," Smith commented.
Chuck slowly opened eyes to see Smith sitting in a chair at the foot of his bed.
"Well, I am a little surprised with my accommodations. I figured they would have more of the bars and shackles motif," Chuck replied.
"Oh, nonsense Chuck. You aren't a prisoner. You are our guest. Well, maybe you are forced to stay here, but a guest nonetheless. Chuck, once I leave you will be free to walk around this facility. There will be guards, cameras, and listening devices monitoring your every move. But hey, you can get up and stretch the old legs every once in a while." Smith just smiled like he was having a conversation with an old friend.
"Why am I here?" Chuck asked.
"You see Chuck, the next part of your mission is very important. We need you to go over some very sensitive Intel that we can't have falling into the wrong hands. The only way we can accomplish this is with you, so we can control the when, where, and how much. Don't worry, once you have reviewed everything we need you to, we will return you to your home. Don't look at this as a prison stay, but more like a business trip. You do some work, maybe lounge around a little bit, and then you can return home to the little wife." Smith said the last word with a little more emphasis.
"You leave Sarah out of this," Chuck yelled.
"That's the spirit. I wanted to make sure it was still there. Can't go breaking you yet. I'm going to need that can do attitude to get done what needs to be done," Smith said with a chuckle.
"What do you need done?" Chuck inquired.
"Don't worry about that, we will have plenty of time to get to it. Why don't you relax and enjoy yourself? Take a walk around and enjoy your new surroundings. I'll be in touch. Like I said, Chuck, this is a business trip. You have some time between meetings now, so enjoy it. I'll let you get your rest." Mr. Smith got up from his chair and walked towards the door. As he grabbed the knob, he quickly turned around throwing something at Chuck. "I hope you didn't think I wouldn't find these. It was rather insulting that you tried to use them at all, and don't worry we got all of them." Smith opened the door and slowly walked out.
Chuck reached for what Smith had thrown at him. It was the tracker he and Sarah had planted at the dock. Just what I was hoping to see, Chuck thought. Smith was getting cocky and was playing right into Team Bartowski's hands. Chuck could only hope that Smith's arrogance would continue to grow.
The rest of Team Bartowski sat around the conference table in Castle. Any moment the first tracker should ping, hopefully giving them the first of many breadcrumbs on their path to Smith. Then, just like clockwork they received their first ping. It was located about one hundred miles northwest of the warehouse. The transport seemed to be heading out of California and towards Nevada. The team knew this could all be nothing. So many things could have gone wrong. The trackers could have been found and destroyed, or worse used to lead them in the complete opposite direction. There was no way of knowing. All they could do now was wait and watch. Over the next several hours they should be receiving multiple pings hopefully showing a route and final destination. The trackers were set to ping every hour for the next twenty four hours. "Ok, now that we have the first tracker we wait," Casey commented.
"We wait? There has to be something else we can do Casey. Chuck is out there and these stupid trackers aren't going to tell us anything for twenty four hours." Sarah's frustration was starting to boil over.
"Look Walker, I know that you're worried about Chuck. Hell, we all are, but remember before he was the Intersect or a spy, he was smart. He'll use that to survive this. You knew all of this was part of the plan, so don't go unraveling on me now. I will not end up locked in a holding cell again," Casey replied.
"I know Casey, it's just harder than I thought. Chuck went and made me a real girl with feelings and everything, and they are a lot harder to control than I remember," Sarah replied with a slight smirk. She knew it would be difficult, but she also knew Casey and the rest of the team would help her keep a level head.
"Let's keep our heads on straight. We have awhile before all the trackers are activated and paint us a picture of what the hell is going on. I will stay and watch the trackers. Everyone else go get some rest," Casey ordered.
"Casey, you know I'm staying here. Remember the last time you tried to order me to get some rest?" Sarah asked.
"Ya, I remember, Grimes here opened his big mouth about Chuck's proposal plan and you went off the reservation," Casey remarked.
"Hey, you know I'm a connector. I share to connect with people, so I told Sarah. You have to admit, at least I tried to keep it a secret," Morgan commented.
Casey and Sarah quickly exchanged glances remembering how quickly and easily Morgan had spilled the information. "You keep telling yourself that Grimes," Casey grunted.
The team quickly settled in. They knew they had some time before the shipment reached its final destination, and all they could do now was wait.
Chuck sat in his room contemplating his next move. Finally his curiosity got the best of him and he decided to explore. He opened the door that Smith had exited and entered a large hallway. To his left were multiple doors on both sides of the hallway. To his right the corridor led to one single door at the end. Let's see left or right. I feel like…..left it is, he thought. He walked down the hallway, trying to open any door he came across. Most were locked with biometric scanners, which he flashed on, realizing they took a fingerprint. He figured that if he tried to bypass one, Smith's men would be all over him by the time he tried to get inside. Chuck continued down the hallway until he found an unlocked door. He pressed his ear against it, listening very carefully. There were no sounds coming from the other side of the door. He braced himself, ready for whatever he would find on the other side. He quickly flung the door open, stepped inside and began to scan his new surroundings. He was a little surprised to find himself in the middle of a supply closet. Just as he was about to exit, hoping no one had seen his misadventure, he turned to see two of Smith's men standing directly behind him. The two men just looked at Chuck and let out a little laugh. "So this is the great spy Charles Carmichael," one man said to the other.
"I would have thought he'd be a little smarter than to find himself in a broom closet," the other man replied. The two men enjoyed a quick laugh at Chuck's expense and turned to walk down the hallway.
"Excuse me gentlemen, where could a man find something to eat?" Chuck asked.
"Not in there," one of the men joked.
"Go back to your room and use your phone. They'll bring you whatever you want," the other man responded as he started down the hall.
Chuck quickly rushed up behind the two men and grabbed one of the men by the shoulder, turning him to face Chuck. The other guard quickly aimed his weapon at Chuck, preparing for a fight.
"Hey, hey. Everybody just calm down. No need to point that at me. I just wanted to give him these, looks like he dropped them." Chuck handed the man his key ring.
"Funny, I didn't hear them fall," the man replied.
"Must not been able to hear over all the laughing," Chuck said with a laugh of his own.
The man went to take the keys from him, but instead Chuck reached out his hand and gave it a shake, squeezing as hard as he could. "Since you already know my name only fair I get to know yours," Chuck said with a grin.
"Maybe next time," the guard said as he grabbed his keys from Chuck's other hand.
The two men quickly turned away and continued on their rounds. Chuck watched as the men used their fingers to scan into one of the adjacent rooms. Chuck looked at the back of his hand to reveal a thumb print starting to appear. Chuck had placed a special substance, glassenyol, on his hand before the mission that would show a fingerprint. The glassenyol would react to the oil on someone's hand, along with the heat created from the handshake, provided you got the person to squeeze hard enough. Now all Chuck had to do was get the glassenyol cold and it would create a hard form of the guards finger print. Chuck hurried to his room. He went over to the glass of ice water near his bed and quickly removed the ice placing it in the sheets. He then pressed the sheet against the back of his hand firmly, decreasing the temperature on his skin causing the desired reaction. A little part of Chuck was excited by all of this. If it wasn't for the fact that he was behind enemy lines with no back up, he might actually be enjoying himself. Once the glassenyol was cold enough he was able to peel the print off. Chuck had been hoping to use this trick on Smith, but he was pretty sure Smith wasn't going to allow him to get close enough to use it. Now Chuck had a onetime key that he would save for the right time. He still had a couple more tricks up his sleeve. Chuck secured the print and walked over to the phone. "I would like to order some food," he said into the receiver. He figured they wouldn't go to all this trouble just to poison him and he was quite hungry, so why not.
Sarah had been starring at the screen for hours. They had received a total of 5 pings and the shipments just continued to move northwest and were now near Idaho Falls. Where the hell are they taking this shipment? Sarah thought. In all her years as a spy, she couldn't remember having to deal with many issues in states like Idaho or Montana, but that seemed to be right where Smith's shipment was headed. Sarah pulled up the satellite images again to verify that it was indeed still the same unmarked box car transporting the shipment. With the use of Carmichael Industries satellites, and a little help from General Beckman, they had been able to watch the shipment for most of its route. Sarah just continued to stare at the monitor. She had to keep herself busy or her mind would start to wonder to Chuck.
"Don't worry Walker, Chuck is going to be fine," Casey said.
"I know Casey. I was just thinking back to my time before Burbank, and how different I was," Sarah replied.
"I know what you mean. Bartowski made us both a little soft," Casey commented with a little bit of a smirk.
"I guess you could say he has that effect on people. I'm so thankful I met him Casey….and met you. I was so empty before all of this. I went from mission to mission, never really caring about anything but the next mission. Now I have something to care about, and something to fight for. I know it hasn't been easy, but I really think it has been worth it. You tell anyone this and I will kill you," Sarah joked.
"Look Sarah, I get it. Without Bartowski, I would have never even reached out to Alex. Now I can't imagine my life without her. It's been a royal pain at times, but it's been well worth it." Casey responded. The duo just looked at each other in silence.
"Well now that we got all our lady feelings out of the way what do you say we save your husband."
Chuck had walked around the facility and had found nothing. All it led to was more locked doors and no-name guards walking around. He knew he was going to have to take his time and play his cards close to the vest if he wanted to survive this one. He ventured back to his room and was surprised to find Mr. Smith waiting for him. "Oh, there you are Chuck," Mr. Smith exclaimed.
"Like you didn't know exactly where I was," Chuck replied.
"Well that's true, but I need to keep up appearances…..in all. Want you to feel like you are free. Anyway, we are ready for you to look over some information for us." With that Smith got up from his chair and headed towards the door of Chuck's room. "Right this way Chuck."
Smith led Chuck down the hall to the right. The single door at the end of the hallway was standing open now. Smith proceeded to go in and allow Chuck to follow. Inside the room was a single chair. It was a small room with all white walls, ceiling, and floor. It resembled an intersect room. "Take a seat Chuck, the information we need you to review will start appearing on that wall over there." Smith point towards the wall the chair was already facing.
"What, you aren't going to watch with me?" Chuck asked.
"No, it's rather boring stuff really. No reason to bore myself with it a second time," Smith said as he headed back towards the door.
"What, no popcorn or drink for the movie?" Chuck joked.
Smith ignored Chuck's last remark and closed the door behind him. Chuck could hear the door lock as it closed. Well, I guess they got me where they want me now, he thought. Chuck hoped that he was right. That they hadn't brought him all this way just to kill him. He knew they needed him, he just hoped it was for a little bit longer. He still needed time to find more Intel and be able to help his team. Just then images started to appear on the screen. There were images of places, people, and all kinds of things. Chuck watched, unsure of what he was looking for, but figured the Intersect would tell him.
After exiting the room, Smith quickly opened a hidden access panel and entered his code, which in turn opened a panel in the hallway revealing another room. Inside this room was monitoring equipment and the equipment pumping the information into Chuck. "Has he flashed on anything?" Smith asked.
"No nothing yet," a mysterious figure replied.
"Good. We need to ensure that none of our organization is in the new Intersect. Who knows what Quinn or the government loaded into it, and with our little problem, they could finally have something on us." Smith was obviously flustered.
"Relax Mr. Smith, take a load off. The images will be done in a little bit and we will discover if our leak was able to relay any information before we plugged it." The mysterious figure stood up and slowly walked over to Mr. Smith.
"You see, Chuck in there will tell us everything we need to know with that brain of his, and when he is done he can steal what we need. Then we will be able to dispose of his entire team."
Smith looked on and watched for any signs of a flash from Chuck. The organization he worked for was so close to accomplishing their goals and nothing was going to stop them now.
The mystery guest slowly walked past Mr. Smith. "Where are you going?" he asked.
"To see if Chuck still wants that popcorn," Was the response he got.
The images on the wall had finally stopped and nothing had happened. No flash, no information, nothing. Chuck wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. As he started to get up, the door behind him opened revealing a shock even he wasn't prepared for.
"What are you doing here?" Chuck was finally able to ask.
"Is that any way to greet an old friend Chuck? Besides looks like you moved on ok without me." Then an image of Chuck and Sarah's wedding appeared behind him.
Chuck looked at the image and then back at the person standing in front of him.
"Jill, what are you doing here?" Chuck asked with anger in his voice.
"Did you really think I would last long on the run from the government on my own? Smith found me and gave me a purpose. Funny thing Chuck, I always thought we would end up in a picture like that. Well, guess I was wrong." Jill then lifted her arm, pointing a gun at Chuck. Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger putting multiple tranq darts in Chuck's chest. All Chuck could think about as he lost consciousness was how much Sarah was not going to like this. Then Chuck's world went black.